


By your side

by the_humming_fox



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F.R.I.D.A.Y - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, Iron spider suit for gwen, Let's pretend Endgame never happened, Slow Burn, Spider-Gwen is an Avenger, Stark Tower
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-03-19 23:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18980725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_humming_fox/pseuds/the_humming_fox
Summary: Welcome to my very first fanfiction!After watching "Avengers Endgame" I read a lot of jokes on Tumblr that we should return to the 2012 fanfictions where everyone lives happily in Stark Tower having their own floor...well here we are.I don't really know what I'm doing here, but I had this idea stuck in my head. So basically the plot is Gwen has a crush on Natasha, Tony notices that and with the help of the other Avengers brings them together. Maybe there will be some drama later on.Please note: English is not my first language.





	1. Confession

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in May. Gwen sat on her bedroom floor reading “Alice’s adventures in Wonderland”, which was one of her favorite books, when she suddenly heard the warm voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y., the intelligent user interface created by Tony Stark. 

“Ms. Stacy, Mr. Stark wants me to tell you to come to his workshop. He says that ‘it’ is ready.”

“Is it already?! Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y.!”, the young woman, who was publicly known as “Spider-Gwen”, enthusiastically shut her book, threw it on her bed and ran outside the room. 

Alongside with the other Avengers she was living in Stark Tower in New York City, where every member of the team had their individually designed floor. Although there were plenty of stairs and elevators she could have used, Gwen loved it to simply shoot one of her nets and fly to the floor she wanted since they were all connected through a naturally lighted patio. As she pulled herself up to the 45th floor, where Tony’s workshop was set, she came by Steve aka Captain America, who was probably on his way down to the kitchen (man, this guy eats at least 6 meals a day). 

“Hey, what are you up to?”, he shouted.  
“Tony’s workshop”, she replied continuing her way.  
“Oh, is it already finished?”  
“Yes, I’m so excited!”  
“Well, you’ll have to show it after you tried it on. I’m curious!”  
“I will!”

When she entered the room, which was stuffed with robots, computers and loads of finished and unfinished projects she couldn’t see the billionaire anywhere, she just heard some rattling noises in the back. Following the sounds she eventually found him kneeling under one of his desks obviously searching for something in a large box of what seemed to be random pieces of electrical supplies. “Can I help you with something?”, asked Gwen gently. Startled by her sudden appearance (he must already have forgotten that he ordered her here) he bumped his head into his desk and let out a curse. “Ouch, damn it! Ah Gwen, you’re here, wonderful! If you find a chair sit down.” With these words he got up and left the workshop.  
Easier said than done. After looking around a bit she found a desk chair, where only some books were stacked which she considered would not explode or electrify her if she moved them away. 

“Here it is!” Tony shouted triumphantly when he entered again. In his hands he held a flat silver spider-shaped housing unit of nanoparticles. “I present to you the Mark L Spidersuit”  
“It’s so beautiful!” Gwen squealed with excitement “Can I try it on right now?”  
“Of course, what for do you think I ordered you here?” he amusedly replied. “You’ll have to get rid of your shirt”  
“Oh all right, okay”, she started to unbutton her grey blouse revealing a black sports bra.  
“Since you’re a woman I thought we’ll better place it on your upper belly rather than your chest, so that you can still wear fancy dresses and stuff without looking like…me.”  
“Yeah, good idea.” Gwen grinned.  
“All right so just relax that could now prickle a bit” he said putting the item to the said place doing his techy stuff Gwen had no idea of, when suddenly a woman with red and blonde hair entered the room.

“Hey Tony, have you fixed my belt?” Natasha asked. When Gwen heard the deep soft voice of the former russian spy her heart skipped a beat. She let out an indefinable noise, grabbed her blouse and held it in front of her chest covering her bra. The Black Widow only commented the movement with a slight grin of amusement, which made Gwen want to sink down to the ground floor of Stark Tower and lower. Like all the other Avengers the two of them had a friendly relationship, which was essential for the battlefield, but the Spiderwoman felt more for Natasha. Of course she would never tell her that, because getting rejected by the Black Widow was not a thing she ever wanted to experience. So she lived with the certainty that they never would become any more than good friends.

“Nah, I need one or two more days. I’ll have F.R.I.D.A.Y. tell you when I’m finished”, Tony murmured wiping away the blouse Gwen just covered herself with, because it was in his sight.  
“Fine.” Natasha muttered, turned around (not without throwing another amused look at Gwen) and left.

“Wow, that was weird” Tony smirked.  
“What?” mumbled Gwen fully concentrating on not to blush.  
“Oh come on Stacy, literally everybody in this building knows that you have a crush on Romanoff, even Barton does.”  
Ok. Now she couldn’t hold the blushing back any more. “And does she know?” she carefully asked.  
“Nah, don’t think so. As I know her she surely believes no one could ever love her. Tragic backstory, you know. So. When are you gonna tell her?”  
“When am I…? I’m not! And you also won’t!” Gwen hysterically stated.  
“Why not?! Do you want to die alone?” Tony shot back.  
“Of course not, I’ve been thinking about getting a cat…or two.”  
“Ohmygosh you are ridiculous! Anyways I’m finished. Now try it out, just gently press the spider”

Gwen did as he said and immediately the nanoparticles spread out covering the woman in her brand new Iron Spidersuit. 

“That’s amazing Tony! I’m gonna go a few rounds through the city” Gwen cried, when she acclimated with the new mask and the new voice of the interface.  
“Be careful, I added about 53 new functions, maybe go to the training room first”, Tony warned.  
“Nah, I’ll be fine. What’s life without a little risk, right?” she said motivated.  
“Says the girl who can’t even tell her crush she likes her” he dryly replied.  
“You’re NOT gonna tell her, do you understand me?” not waiting for an answer she put on her Spider-Gwen typical hood, fired a net out of the open window and swung towards downtown.

The Iron Man turned around with a smile on his face. “F.R.I.D.A.Y., get everyone of the team except Romanoff in the kitchen. We have some serious work to do.”


	2. Movie Night

Tony was already eagerly waiting in the kitchen. When finally the last member of the Avengers team (it was Thor) entered the room, he hopped on a chair doing his typical Iron Man arm-spreading pose.

“So, what’s the mysterious cause you brought us all down here that F.R.I.D.A.Y. couldn’t tell us about?” Rhodey asked, curious what his best friend was up to.

“Yeah, tell me why I have been ripped out of my precious Sunday afternoon nap!” Sam complained earning an uncomprehending look from Bucky who’d been in the middle of his workout.

“Avengers”, Tony dramatically began. “As we all know our Miss Stacy has a – I wouldn’t say unhealthy but I do – huge crush on Nat.”

“Yeah”, “Mhm”, “Obviously” were the responses.

“Everyone knows that, Tony. Do you wanna start a Gossip Club?” Bruce said irritated.

“Nope, I want to bring them together.” Silence and confused looks. “Come one guys, we need more love in this team!”

“Sweetheart, I mean we all know that Gwen is gay but is Natasha as well?” asked Pepper carefully whilst gently sweeping her hand over his chest sensing how excited he was about this idea.

Hopping from his chair Tony stated: “THAT is an excellent question, I’m not surprised it’s coming from you, honey. Barton, you know Romanoff best. Has she mentioned anything towards you?”

“Well, she once told me that she is bisexual, so yeah”, answered Clint whilst casually leaning against the fridge.

“Wonderful!” Tony shouted, “So then we’re doing it! And to quote our favorite Captain over there, we’re doing this as a team, so everyone better take this serious!”

Steve smirked. “Do you already have a plan?”

“I have about 12% of a plan, but I thought we’re getting started with something classical. F.R.I.D.A.Y., when did we have our last movie night?”

“1 month, 3 weeks and 2 days ago, boss”

“Well, then it’s about time we have another one” Tony said with a mischievous grin on his face.

 

* * *

 

When Gwen entered the kitchen the next morning she found Hope sitting over her breakfast studying a mission report.

“Morning” she murmured barely looking up from her tablet.

“Good morning, Hope!” the Spiderwoman replied heading towards the fridge when she noticed a red sheet of paper pinned on it, which surely wasn’t there the day before.

“Jey, finally another movie night!”

“Are you going?” Hope asked with sudden interest.

“Of course, I love ‘The Devil Wears Prada’! Are you coming too?”

“Yeah, I’ll take Scott with me. It’ll be fun.”

 

* * *

 

Wednesday night at 8:10 pm Gwen flew up to the top floor of Stark Tower. A giant video wall and lots of sofas with cozy blankets and pillows were set under a glass roof. When she entered the room some team members were already present. One couch was occupied by Hope and Scott and on another bigger one Clint and Nat made themselves comfortable.

Because she didn’t want to seem antisocial and sit all by herself Gwen shyly asked if she could sit with them. Of course they didn’t mind it so she carefully settled herself (with enough safe distance) on the other side of Natasha, who was now sitting in the middle.

At 20:15 sharp F.R.I.D.A.Y. started the movie stream.

When they where about 10 minutes in, a steady circle of orange and yellow sparks formed right in front of the video wall revealing the head of Stephen Strange, who looked quite stressed out.

“Oh nice, all the insects are here. Lang, Van Dyne, Barton – come with me, I need you on a mission”, the sorcerer shouted through the portal.

“What about us?”, asked Gwen.

“Yeah, don’t you need us too?” Natasha added

“Nope, just the three of them. Enjoy your movie, we got this” was the last thing they heard from Stephen before he disappeared.

“All right, duty calls. Don’t eat all the popcorn while I’m gone”, murmured Clint heading towards the portal.

“Oh come on, you made me come here. I deserve to be on that mission too”, the Black Widow, who could never say No to an operation, complained, but the Hawkeye couldn’t hear her anymore.

Frustrated she let herself fall back into the pillows and stared at the screen.

“Well, let’s try to make the best out of it and enjoy the movie, should we?”, Gwen, who wasn’t sure if she should be delighted or terrified about the fact that she was now alone with her crush, suggested.

Natasha looked at her. “How can you remain so positive? Aren’t you upset that we were left behind”

“I am, but I also can’t change it right now so I won’t waste needless energy on being mad.” Gwen was very proud that she managed to look her directly in the eyes.

After thinking about that new point of view for a minute a not often seen smile appeared on Nat’s face. “I think it’s a good thing that Stark recruited you, we can all learn from you. So let’s do it, want some popcorn?” she placed the bowl between the two of them and encouraged by the compliment Gwen approached while her heartbeat speeded up a little bit.

The first part of Tony’s plan perfectly worked. After a few minutes they forgot their fret about not being part of the mission and began to delve into the movie. They ate all of the popcorn, commented on outfits, laughed about the protagonist’s stupid boyfriend and admired Meryl Streep’s acting skills.

Somehow Gwen must have fallen asleep, because when she opened her eyes she realized that the room was quiet and the movie was already over. Then she sensed another thing and her heart skipped a beat: the part she was leaning against was not a pillow, but Natasha’s shoulder.

_Oh shit I fell asleep. How could I?! Did I drool? Please tell me I didn’t drool on the Black Widow!!!_ She slowly lifted her head.

“Good morning Sleeping Beauty”, Natasha whispered with a chuckle.

Gwen would have loved to simply leave the country and never come back again. “I am so terribly sorry, how long was I out?”

“Not long, 15 minutes or so. Don’t worry it’s fine. We all had a rough week” she got up from the sofa and stretched her back “Well that was fun, we should do that again some time”

“Yeah, I would like that” Gwen smiled “And again sorry for falling asleep on you, I guess”

Natasha was already on her way to the door when she turned around. “Earlier tonight I learned a lesson from you so now I will teach you one in return. Never apologize for being tired or falling asleep. It’s not a weakness. It simply means that you are working hard and utilize every second of your life. That’s something you should be proud of.” With that being said she gave her one last little smile and left.


	3. Falling

Saturday morning at Stark Tower.

“BUCKYYYYYY WHATEVER YOU’RE DOING STOP IT RIGHT. NOW. YOU ARE FLOODING MY BATHROOM!!!” 

The scream was so loud that Gwen nearly fell off her climbing wall. Curious about what was going on so early on a weekend day she went out into the hallway. There she became witness of the most peculiar scene she would ever see (at least for that morning). 

When she imagined Natasha Romanoff in her sleeping clothes, which happened quite often lately, she always thought she would wear some sexy nightgown with lace and that sort of stuff. Instead she now found the Black Widow standing two floors below her wearing light blue pajamas with little dinosaurs on them looking literally as mad as a wet hen because she was indeed soaked top down.

“I swear I didn’t do anything. The water faucet just exploded!”, now also Bucky’s head appeared directly under Gwen’s position looking resigned and as wet as Natasha. 

“Hey guys what’s going on? Can I help?” Gwen shouted leaning over the railing.

Natasha pointed at Bucky. “That guy apparently is not able to estimate the strength of his metal arm and now my bathroom is under water and I can’t take a shower!”

“My arm has absolutely nothing to do with it, I told you!” 

“Uh huh, and what was that when you broke the laundry machine?”

“That thing was already broken before I touched it!”

“Of course it was”

“I COULD STROKE A KITTEN WITH THAT ARM, OKAY!?!?!”

“Okay! Guys! Calm down, you’re going to wake the whole building!” Gwen determinedly intruded. “Bucky, tell F.R.I.D.A.Y. to call a technician, Nat, you can use my shower if you want.”  
______________________________________

Meanwhile Tony was flying downtown peacefully humming a melody in his Iron Man suit to have breakfast with Pepper at their favorite café. 

“Uhm boss?” 

“Yes, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Your new mission to set up Ms. Stacy with Ms. Romanoff doesn’t include the destruction of your own building, am I right?” 

“You are absolutely right my dear. I would never do such inappropriate things, I am Tony Stark”, he stated with a mischievous grin.  
______________________________________

Ten minutes later Natasha tramped up the stairs to the 27th floor where Gwen lived. To Gwen’s disappointment she didn’t wear her dino-pajamas anymore but a red loose jumper and black leggings. She carried a bag with towels, shampoo and other bathing supplies. 

“Thanks for the help, Gwen. If you hadn’t offered your bathroom I’d have had to ask Clint but he always leaves his dirty socks everywhere, so I really appreciate it”, Natasha smirked.

Gwen had also changed her appearance (duh, when the Black Widow comes to visit you, you better look good). Earlier that day she had braided her short blonde hair in two boxer braids for her climbing session. Now she had opened them and her hair came down in soft waves to perfectly frame her face. Her workout clothes were replaced with grey checked trousers and a white shirt. She would never have admitted it, but she was pleased with her look.

“Oh, no problem. I just thought I had to do something before you two started a gun fight”, she replied with a sassy grin, wielding her arm to the left. “Come on, that way”

The bathroom was located right beside her training room the door of which Gwen accidentally left open after she had heard the screams earlier that day. When they passed it Natasha suddenly stopped. 

“You have a climbing wall?!” she exclaimed in admiration.

“Yeah, Steve arranged it. He said it would be a good thing to train my climbing abilities in case I would ever loose my, you know, stickiness.”, the blonde girl explained, a little bit proud about the fact that she could tell her something about her training. 

“I am so jealous right now. I’ve been wanting one for years!” Natasha grunted.

“Oh, you can try it out if you want. It’s great fun”, Gwen offered.

Natasha’s eyes brightened and she took a step towards the door “Really? Like, right now?” 

“Sure, why not” 

So the Black Widow dropped her bag and almost ran into Gwen’s training room. 

“Here, put on a climbing harness”, the Spiderwoman said.

“Nah I won’t go long, just a few minutes”, Natasha confidently refused and began to go up the wall like a chamois.

Although she wasn’t very happy with Natasha’s decision, Gwen didn’t object and just watched how Nat joyfully inspected her paradise. The climbing area spread over two entire sides of the gym, which had a higher ceiling than the other rooms in Stark Tower. 

“What’s that?”, Natasha had arrived at the end of the long side of the wall where it hit a huge window. 

“That’s the best, there are some grips outside so you can actually climb out onto the facade. But for that you really should wear the climbing harness”, Gwen said.

But the redheaded woman had already found the button to open the window. “Don’t worry, I’ve climbed higher buildings without security”, with that being said she pressed the button and disappeared around the corner.  
__________________________________________

Tony’s and Pepper’s breakfast date went very well and so he headed back to Stark Tower. As he was targeting the platform he usually landed on and got rid of his Iron Man suit, he saw Natasha on the facade and stopped right where he was. 

“Well well, could that day get any better?” he mumbled “F.R.I.D.A.Y., retract the climbing grips on the outside!”

“But Sir, Ms. Romanoff is currently using them. She will fall to her death!”, F.R.I.D.A.Y. opposed.

“No she won’t. Do it.” insisted Tony in joyful anticipation of the following scenario.  
__________________________________________

Gwen didn’t really know what to do, so she just went near the window and watched Natasha who hung on the wall with her eyes closed the wind blowing through her wet hair. It was a picture of pure grace. 

Natasha opened her eyes. “It’s wonderful. I – “ suddenly and without any forewarning the grips she was holding onto disappeared. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth for a silent scream before she fell. 

Almost automatically Gwen’s hand went to her belly to press the Spider and within a second she was covered in her suit, jumping out of the window. While falling she aimed at Nat, put one arm around her waist and with the other one fired a net up to the window. 

“Hold on, I need my other arm too”, she ordered the Black Widow, fired a second net upwards and pulled the two of them up. She was surprised how light Natasha was.

When they reached the window, Gwen lifted her inside and closed it. Natasha leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor. She was breathing heavily and shaking, so Gwen sat down beside her and put both arms around Natasha’s chest. 

“It’s okay, you’re safe. I got you”, she mumbled.

“Thanks”, Natasha whispered holding tightly onto Gwen’s arms, still shaking.

“You would have done the same”, Gwen answered noticing that she was shaking herself. 

“I honestly don’t know what was wrong with the grips. This has never happened before, I swear.”

There was a long silence where Nat tried to get her breathing under control and slowly got calmer. In all that time Gwen didn’t let go of her till she was sure she got better.

“You know, I never fell before.” Natasha admitted rubbing her hands over her face. “I was beaten, shot, nearly drowned, but I never fell. That was by far the worst thing I have ever experienced, because I couldn’t do anything about it. I had no control.”

“I am so very sorry you had to go through that. I should have never let you go outside without security.” Gwen couldn’t look her in the eyes and just stared at her legs. 

“It’s not your fault. You saved my life”, the Black Widow lifted the Spiderwoman’s chin up. For a moment they looked into each other’s eyes and the air seemed to crackle. 

Then a little twinkle appeared in Natasha’s eyes. “And now I really need to take that shower” she said with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to @muse_of_gods for proofreading this chapter! <3


End file.
